Features

SINGAPORE — Mostly young, male audiophiles throng a Singapore hotel ballroom, intently assessing headphones, earbuds and in-ear monitors — priced from $50 to as much as $10,000.

Alongside are banks of dedicated digital audio players (DAPs), with an entire wall of the expo showcasing the king of DAPs: iriver.

Less than five years ago, the South Korean firm was staring at bankruptcy, its low-end MP3 players no match for Apple’s iPod and the rise of the music-playing smartphone.

But, after some missteps and a name change, Astell & Kern has created a small but lucrative market for those wanting to hear music as it sounds in the studio or concert hall.

This is the world of high resolution audio (HRA), a niche that smartphone makers, music companies and even telecom carriers hope will, if not move to the mainstream, at least sprinkle some of its fat margins on their bottom lines.

“Now, people are interested in $3,000 players,” says James Lee, Astell & Kern’s vice president. “Before, they would think $300 players were crazy. Now, $1,000 is the average price.”

And that’s a snip compared to the $55,000 price tag on a pair of Sennheiser Orpheus HE 1 electrostatic headphones resting on a marble-mounted amplifier on show for selected guests in a room on the hotel’s 34th floor.

Consumer demand for HRA is being fed in part by lifestyle shifts. We commute longer, live in smaller apartments and use smarter phones and streaming services, like Spotify. Americans spend 24 hours a week listening to music, says market consultancy Nielsen.

Also, there are fewer constraints on audio quality. A decade ago, a “lossy” MP3 format — where file compression meant reduced quality — made sense when $30 would buy enough space for only about 500 songs. Now, the same price would get you enough flash drive for 32,000 songs.

Audio add-ons

The growth in listening to music is having a knock-on impact on Bluetooth speakers, headphones and other audio accessories. Last year, Americans spent more on headphones for the first time than they did on physical music, such as CDs.

This has stirred hardware makers. Apple’s purchase of headphones and music streaming company Beats for $3 billion in 2014 has overshadowed efforts by other manufacturers to offer audio accessories and features.

A year earlier, Sony dusted off its Walkman brand as a high-end audio range, and has since added portable speakers and headphones. Samsung Electronics has its Level series of headphones and speakers, while LG Electronics last month launched its LG phone with an optional Hi-Fi module, made in partnership with Bang & Olufsen.

Others, too, hope clearer, richer audio will help them differentiate, adding separate audio processors to improve the playback of music on their phones.

They are helped by specialist chip makers like ESS Technology Inc., whose digital audio converters are in phones made by Xiaomi, Lenovo, Meizu, LeTV and Vivo.

Telecom carriers are also taking note, hoping to lock in users or boost revenues: Singapore Telecommunications launched a service in February offering four separate streaming apps, including Spotify.

When iriver’s owners decided to sell the company in 2014, it was South Korean carrier SK Telecom which offered the most compelling bid, said Lee, adding: “Telcos think this market will grow.”

Asia leads

Much of the surge in interest in HRA is in Asia.

Onkyo, a Japanese music download service, has offered high resolution music since 2004. The country accounted for more than a fifth of all spending on HRA, including home Hi-Fi, last year, according to GfK, a research company.

China, too, is growing fast, and overtook Japan as iriver’s main market last October.

Tianjin-based Hifiman, a maker of headphones costing up to $3,000, is seeing its margins squeezed by pretenders. “Customers and distributors tell me that users get a little bit confused,” said Riccardo Yeh, Hifiman’s international sales director.

The HRA market still has an early stage, almost amateur feel. The dozens of companies making headphones, from Vietnam to Romania, are usually home-spun, crowdfunded or self-financed, and rarely employ more than a few staff, says Jude Mansilla, who runs a website and organised the Singapore expo.

“The industry is very keen,” says Peter Cooney, an analyst who follows the HRA space. “But for the mass market, the question is: Is the demand there?”

An affordable, uncomplicated, practical and fun entry-level hatchback for developing markets including South Africa and the Middle East, the original previous generation Fiesta-based Indian-built Ford Figo debuted in 2010. Succeeded recently, the new 2016 model year Figo is more refined, better equipped and designed to better fit in with Ford’s current design ethos.

Offered with a choice of durably proven and efficient 1.2- or 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engines, the new Figo can be had with either 5-speed manual or a more surprisingly contemporary 6-speed dual-clutch auto option. Designed to be accessible and practical, the Figo is big on substance, space and sensible solutions.

Contemporary design

With a bolder more prominent horizontally slatted hexagonal grille better incorporating it with Ford’s current design language, the new Figo has a more assertive sense of presence from front. This is also reflected with the use of more prominently ridged character lines in profile view, in addition to a more slanted C-pillar for a more contemporarily aesthetic.

Profile view also reveals a single rear door glass pane and longer doors for improved rear seat access. Narrower and with more flowing roofline, the new Figo looks decidedly more contemporary, but lacks its predecessor’s urgent upright design while charismatic high-set vertical C-pillar rear lights are replaced with less distinctive and lower-set lights at the rear.

Wider, taller and more upmarket looking, the new Figo offers generous cabin space for its segment and larger cars. And with higher waistline, narrower glasshouse higher bonnet and more steeply angled pillars, road visibility mightn’t be as good as its more upright predecessor’s, but nonetheless remains excellent for accurately placing the new Figo on road and manoeuvring in tight confines.

Efficient and eager

Driven in 1.5-litre guise, the Figo’s four-cylinder engine developing 110BHP at 6300rpm and 100lb/ft torque at 4250rpm. Combined with a low weight of around 1050-1100kg, the light and nimble Figo can respectably accelerates to 100km/h from standstill in 12 seconds, as tested with optional 6-speed auto gearbox, and attain a conservatively rated 175km/h top speed.

With variable valve timing to optimise performance and efficiency, the Figo 1.5 is responsive if not abundant at low-end, but perks up in mid-range and is progressive and willing as it climb through to top end to extract its full potential. Entertaining and rewarding, the Figo 1.5 goes along well at a sedate pace, but, however, seems to wills one to wring it hard.

Manic and strained at its rev limit, the Fig 1.5 combines a sweet chassis with a small engine, and delivers a fun and well-paced driving experience, where one has to work to extract performance. Smooth, slick and responsive in default automatic mode, the Figo’s dual-clutch gearbox becomes considerably more sensitive to throttle input in “Sport” mode.

Supple, stable and agile

Smooth, stable and reassuring at speed for its small accessible hatchback segment, the Figo is a more refined and comfortable car than the one it replaces. With more efficient and light but well-feelsome electric steering assistance, the Figo is nimble, and perky to drive, if not as ultimately agile and go-cart like as the outgoing model.

With stiff construction so that its MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension can work to better provide handling finesse and ride comfort, the Figo is superbly agile, manoeuvrable and flickable, turning tidily, crisply and eagerly into corners, with good steering feel owing to slim tyres, which nonetheless provide good grip and feel for grip limits.

The Figo’s slim high-profile 175/65R14 tyres not only provide good feel for the road, but also prove supple, comfortable and durable over lumps, bumps and cracks — as expected in the Figo’s target markets — and additionally protects alloy wheels from being kerbed. Meanwhile, the Figo’s front disc and rear drum brakes are responsive, effective and provide good pedal feel.

Airy, roomy and sensible

Smooth and comfortable, the Figo is a more refined car than its predecessor — if slightly less engaging a drive. And with high 174mm ground clearance and short wheelbase and overhangs, it well serves intended buyers by being able to comfortably tackle considerable road imperfections, as is to be expected in some developing markets.

Practical and user-friendly, the Figo’s cabin is airy and honest, with decent material and aesthetic layouts for its value car segment. Cabin space, including rear headroom is good, wide door swing angles provide easy access and a uniformly shaped 261-litre boot is useful and can expand with fold-down rear seats. Driving position is supportive and comfortable, with seat height and steering tilt adjustability.

Sensibly equipped, the driven model featured electric front windows and mirrors, remote central locking, A/C and 4-speaker CD sound system with USB port and MP3 compatibility. Cleverly, the Figo features a console-top storage bin that doubles as an adjustable smartphone docking bay, so one could integrate it as a sat/nav infotainment system. Safety equipment included driver and passenger airbags and electronic stability control.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.5-litre, transverse 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 79 x 76.5mm

Compression ratio: 11:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing

Gearbox: 6-speed dual clutch auto, front-wheel drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 110.4 (112) [82.3] @6300rpm

Specific power: 73.6BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 100.3 (136) @4250rpm

Specific torque: 90.7Nm/litre

0-100 km/h: 12 seconds

Top speed: 175km/h

Fuel economy, combined: 5.5-6 litres/100km (est)

CO2 emissions, combined: 142g/km

Fuel capacity: 42 litres

Length: 3886mm

Width: 1695mm

Height: 1525mm

Wheelbase: 2491mm

Track, F/R: 1492/1484mm

Ground clearance: 174mm

Headroom, F/R: 1014/973mm

Legroom, F/R: 1069/869mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1361/1338mm

Luggage capacity, minimum: 261 litres

Kerb weight: 1050-1,100kg (est.)

Gross vehicle weight: 1,450kg

Steering: Electric power assisted

Turning circle: 9.8-metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson Strut/torsion beam

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/drums

Tyres: 175/65R14

Toyota announced an enhanced relationship with Microsoft on Monday aimed at delivering “connected car” services to drivers in ways they probably never could have imagined.

For instance, artificial-intelligence features could be added to cars that allow them to know where the car is going and offer services drivers might want along the way. Going to the baseball game this weekend? The car might detect the route a driver normally takes and recommend restaurants for a pre-game lunch.

Toyota Connected, as the partnership will be known, “will help free our customers from the tyranny of technology. It will make lives easier and help us to return to our humanity”, said Zack Hicks, the chief information officer of Toyota Motor North America who was appointed CEO of Toyota Connected.

Already, drivers ask the infotainment system in their cars for restaurant recommendations, but many locations often would require that a driver turn around. But with Toyota Connected, the system might be modified to only recommend restaurants on the highway ahead — and then only the kinds of food that the driver usually prefers.

The services offered can be tailored to individual customers. “We don’t want to dump everything on everyone,” said Sandy Lobenstein, executive vice president of Toyota Connected. “The whole is idea is getting to know our customers better.”

Road information can be delivered to drivers based on driving patterns — knowing the routes they usually take. Auto insurance could be priced more accurately because the system could report on a driver’s actual kilometres and routes travelled.

Medical-related sensors could also be built into the car, like heartbeat monitors or sensors on the steering wheel. Some of the services could be offered to customers wirelessly by being beamed directly into their cars, but Lobenstein said that customer privacy considerations will be paramount.

Toyota Connected hopes to have its first products within a year. The ultimate objective is to “help to humanise the driving experience while pushing the technology into the background”, Toyota said in a statement.

Microsoft has worked with Toyota since 2011. It will hold a minority ownership stake in the venture, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said in an e-mail.

Plano, Texas-based Toyota Connected will include the Japanese automaker’s scientists and Microsoft engineers working side by side to advance data-based solutions to the auto industry’s challenges.

WASHINGTON — Engineers, safety advocates and even automakers have a safety message for federal regulators eager to get self-driving cars on the road: slow down.

Fully self-driving cars may be the future of the automotive industry, but they aren’t yet up to the demands of real-world driving, several people told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during a public meeting Friday.

A slower, more deliberative approach may be needed instead of the agency’s rapid timetable for producing guidance for deploying the vehicles, according to an auto industry trade association. In January, the federal agency announced that it would begin work on writing guidance for deploying the vehicles. Officials have promised to complete that guidance by July.

There are risks to using guidance to deviate from the government’s traditional process of issuing regulations and standards, Paul Scullion, safety manager at the Association of Global Automakers, told the meeting hosted by NHTSA.

“While this process is often time consuming, these procedural safeguards are in place for valid reasons,” Scullion said. Working outside that process might allow the government to respond more quickly to rapidly changing technology, but that approach would likely come at the expense of thoroughness, he said.

Issuing new regulations takes an average of eight years, the NHTSA has said. Regulations are also enforceable while guidance is usually more general and open to interpretation.

Mark Rosekind, the NHTSA’s administrator, taking note of the “irony” of automakers asking for regulations, said the agency can’t wait because early self-driving technologies are already in cars on the road. Tesla’s “autopilot” function, for example, enables its cars to automatically steer down the highway, change lanes and adjust speed in response to traffic.

“Everybody asks, ‘When are they going to be ready?’ I keep saying they’re not coming; they are here now,” Rosekind said. Without federal instructions, “people are just going to keep putting stuff out on the road with no guidance on how do we do this the right way”.

Rosekind emphasised that he sees self-driving cars as game-changing technology that could someday save the lives of many of the more than 30,000 people killed each year on the nation’s roads.

A General Motors official recently told a Senate committee that the automaker expects to deploy self-driving cars within a few years through a partnership with the ride-sharing service Lyft. Google, a pioneer in the development of self-driving cars, is pushing Congress to give the NHTSA new powers to grant it special, expedited permission to sell cars without steering wheels or pedals.

But many of those who addressed the meeting, the first of two the agency has scheduled as it works on the guidelines, described a host of situations that self-driving cars still can’t handle:

— Poorly marked pavement, including parking lots and driveways, could foil the technology, which relies on clear lane markings.

— Bad weather can interfere with vehicle sensors.

— Self-driving cars can’t take directions from a policeman.

— Inconsistent traffic-control devices such as horizontal versus lateral traffic lights.

Until the technology has advanced beyond the point where ordinary conditions are problematic, “it is dangerous, impractical and a major threat to the public health, safety and welfare to deploy them”, said Mark Golden, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

There have been thousands of “disengagements” reported in road tests of self-driving cars in which the vehicles automatically turned control over to a human being, said John Simpson, privacy project director of Consumer Watchdog.

“Self-driving cars simply aren’t ready to safely manage too many routine traffic situations without human intervention,” he said.

Rosekind said automakers are learning from the unanticipated situations the vehicles encounter and adapting their software. At the same time, he acknowledged that self-driving cars, like other systems that rely on wireless technology, can be vulnerable to hacking.

James Niles, president of Orbit City Lab, a New York think tank, told the meeting that there is a complete absence of federal regulations and standards to prevent self-driving cars from being turned into weapons by “bad actors”.

“The concern that an autonomous vehicle could be used as a weapon has gone unnoticed by the general public and probably by the majority of government officials,” he said.

President Barack Obama has proposed a 10-year, $3.9 billion automated technologies programme, including large-scale pilot deployments of self-driving cars around the country and funding additional cybersecurity research.

MOSCOW/MINSK  — Belarusian singer Ivan plans to take next month’s Eurovision Song Contest by storm — performing completely naked with a wolf at his side.

But his plan may prove too much even for a show known as an annual celebration of weirdness, held this year in Stockholm in May.

The act by the lanky 21-year old with a mane of reddish blond hair was dreamt up by Viktor Drobysh, a well-known Russian producer with a strong Eurovision track record.

“It’s undoubtedly an experience, a great experience,” Ivan, whose real name is Alexander Ivanov, told AFP in an interview at Drobysh’s Moscow studio.

“Especially as I have never performed on stage before in my birthday suit and with wild animals.”

The problem? It is not clear whether the act will be allowed to go ahead.

Eurovision bans animals on stage. And while there is no rule on nudity, spokesman Paul Jordan told AFP this is “not appropriate” for a family show.

Drobysh insists the performance is an artistic statement.

‘Art, Not Porn’

“It’s not about vulgarity or sex at all.

“We want this to be art, not porn,” he said, as the studio staff — with a bit of irony — tinkered with a future track by Ivan with the chorus, “I want sex, sex, sex.”

“I think the beauty that will be in our performance is comparable to that of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’,” Drobysh said, evoking the French artist’s famous nude sculpture.

“Can you imagine ‘The Thinker’ wearing jeans?”

Eurovision, now in its 61st year, features acts ranging from the brilliant to the bizarre and pulls in a TV audience from around the world. Its finals are set for May 14.

Ivan will represent Belarus, a small ex-Soviet country not exactly known for its libertarian ways. It is sandwiched between the European Union and Russia, its chief ally.

“The final version of the song will be confirmed later,” chief spokeswoman for Belarus state television and radio company Svetlana Kraskovskaya told AFP.

“What you see is one of the options,” she said of a promo video of Ivan singing his contest entry, “Help You Fly”, in which he appears naked with a trained shewolf named Shakira by his side.

Eurovision is known for its wacky outfits — from Finland’s 2006 winner Lordi in their monster masks to Ukraine’s 2007 drag queen contestant Verka Serduchka in her disco-mirrored headdress.

But Ivan has been dubbed in some reports as possibly the songfest’s weirdest contestant yet, something he takes as a compliment.

He says he and Drobysh thought long about possible costumes, but ultimately decided on none at all, to show “nature and man are together”.

Working with a wolf brought another challenge.

“The first rehearsals were very scary, but all the same we made friends,” said Ivan, adding the sausages he fed her helped. “She liked my smell and started rubbing up against me.”

Spirit of the times

Drobysh is pushing for the act. 

And as the man behind Russia’s Buranovskiye Babushki, a choir of elderly ladies who won second place in 2012 when they charmed the audience with their mix of authentic peasant outfits and disco beat, he’s made a name at Eurovision.

He said the Belarusian state television company “is working on all the legal questions”, although its spokeswoman told AFP that Drobysh himself is in charge of negotiations.

Eurovision “will take a decision” after seeing a “second-by-second outline of the routine”, said Drobysh.

He admitted there is a less exciting plan B for the performance, which he described as a “lite” version.

Belarus has performed at Eurovision 12 times since 1994 and its best result was Dmitry Koldun’s sixth place in 2007 with “Work Your Magic”.

Some online commentators in Belarus have expressed shock at the planned performance.

“That’s a fine way to present Belarus, in the spirit of the times: with a bare arse,” wrote one, hinting at the country’s economic woes.

“We kicked up a fuss about Conchita,” wrote another, referring to bearded Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst who won in 2014, “but we are disgracing ourselves in front of the whole world”.

The Birth of the Arab Citizen and the Changing Middle East
Edited by Stuart Schaar and Mohsine El Ahmadi
US: Olive Branch Press/Interlink Publishing, 2016
Pp. 326

Instead of wasting time bewailing the dismal results of the Arab uprisings so far, this book focuses on actual changes that could portend a better future. Editor Stuart Schaar argues persuasively for taking “a long view approach”. While democracy and social justice remain elusive, “social movements in the region have benefited from the revolts, not only by freeing people’s minds and tongues, but also by demonstrating the advantages of collective action”. (pp. 7-8)

The other twenty-one contributing writers, mainly academics, would seem to concur, focusing on the human capacities that were unleashed and enhanced in different countries and fields, from street politics to culture.

Mouin Rabbani leads off with “The Un-Islamic State,” asserting that “ISIS represents a thoroughly modern project and… explanations for its existence are primarily to be found in the political landscape in which it operates rather than Islamic ideology”. Registering doubt that it can be defeated by Western military intervention, he concludes: “Only the emergence of institutions enjoying sufficient popular — and not necessarily electoral — legitimacy can address deep-seated grievances and peacefully resolve the conflicts that allow movements such as ISIS to thrive, and thereby reassert governance...” (pp. 19, 24) 

The issue of how to institutionalise the changes people demanded was the rock on which most uprisings floundered. While many articles attest to the birth of a new, more active and fearless Arab citizen, they also show how mass participation was soon curtailed. As Omar Foda writes on Egypt, “Although some have argued that this revolt was unique because it was documented tweet-by-tweet, its true uniqueness lies in the multitude of narratives that it produced.” (p. 43)

Yet, many of the newly emergent voices were excluded as the politics of rebuilding the country took hold.

Sahar Khamis, however, notes that it’s not only about politics; other dynamics have been unleashed that can have great future impact. “Arab women’s prominent positions of leadership and activism in both the real and virtual worlds provide firm evidence that the Arab uprising has been more than just a political revolt. Rather, it has been a social and communications revolt as well, since Arab women activists have in fact been upending traditional hierarchies, reinterpreting religious dogma, breaking taboos and bringing new issues into the public sphere... The mere fact that women in some of the most traditional and conservative Arab societies — such as Libya, Yemen and Bahrain — broke out of their cocoons and rallied in huge numbers for many months under the most dangerous conditions… signals a new era in the history of this region.” (p. 156-7)

Admirably, this book does not overlook Palestine as did some media in the heat of the Arab uprisings. Abaher El-Sakka examines renewed activism among Palestinian youth in response to regional events, noting that “unlike neighbouring Arab countries, Palestinians have long voiced their views in public. But now, for the first time, they were directly challenging the Palestinian authorities”, who tried to appear neutral or sided with the regimes being deposed. (p. 88)

While the Internet and social media skills of the new Arab citizen are recognised, there is just as much, if not more, importance attached to popular activism to reclaim public space. Based on interviews with young Tunisian cyber activists “who helped prepare the way for revolt”, Stuart Schaar gives a totally fascinating profile of Sofiene Ben Haj Mohamed, Fatma Riahi and Skander Ben Hamda — all of whom gave “most credit to the Tunisians who remained on the barricades facing the police, snipers, and armed thugs day after day...” (p. 197) 

Evaluating the impact of the uprisings on film, Viola Shafiq notes that the “unparallelled creative commotion” of Tahrir Square at its height was much more inclusive than the ancient Greek agora, which is often cited as a model of democracy. (p. 211)

Carol Solomon discusses the sociopolitical and creative dimensions of the street art that transformed public space in cities across Tunisia, whereas censorship had previously precluded this genre, and beautiful photos document the expressive excellence so quickly achieved. In a similar vein, Farid El Asri explores the relation between music and revolt. 

While celebrating the explosion of human capacity and creativity, the book does not shy away from the problems and challenges facing the people’s quest for freedom, bread and dignity, whether emanating from the pillars of the old regimes, Islamists or Western policy.

There are chapters on the staying power of the Syrian regime, and why, despite substantial protests in some cases, there were not full-blown revolts in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco or the Gulf States. Several contributors address the economics of transition. As editor Mohsine El Ahmadi writes in the conclusion, “The path of political, social and economic renewal that lies ahead is even longer and has only just begun.” (p. 310)

Eating one serving of beans, peas, lentils or chickpeas every day may help dieters lose a little extra weight, according to a new analysis of existing research.

Researchers examined data from nearly two-dozen trials and found that participants who ate about three quarters of a cup of legumes every day lost about three quarters of a pound more than those who didn’t eat legumes, regardless of whether the diets were geared to weight loss. 

Lead author Dr Russell de Souza told Reuters Health that legumes — or pulses, as they are known in many parts of the world — are an important sustainable protein source, plus they’re high in fibre. 

“Legumes also have a low ‘glycaemic index,’ which means the carbohydrates in them do not raise blood sugars as rapidly as things like white bread or white flour,” said de Souza, a researcher with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Previous studies have found that eating foods high in fibre and protein and low in the glycaemic index promote weight loss, but the specific role of legumes hasn’t been clear, de Souza and his coauthors write in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“We did this study as one in [a] series of papers we are working on to assess the effects of pulses on blood pressure, blood cholesterol, body weight, and appetite control to help guidelines committees to better formulate dietary advice,” he said by e-mail.

The researchers culled 19 studies, based on 21 clinical trials that compared the effects of diets containing legumes with diets that didn’t include legumes, but had the same number of calories. 

Only four of the studies were designed as weight loss studies; the remainder were meant to study weight-maintenance. A total of 940 obese or overweight adults participated in the trials, which lasted from four to twelve weeks. 

After an average of six weeks, the study participants who ate legumes every day lost about 0.34 kilogrammes more than those who didn’t. 

“Though the amount of weight loss was small, it’s important to state that the pulse-containing diets we reviewed were not designed for weight loss,” de Souza said.

Six of the trials also suggested that eating legumes was linked to slightly lower body fat, though there was no evidence of a difference in waist circumference.

De Souza said swapping legumes for other sources of protein, such as meat, may be a painless way to eat healthier and lose a little weight. 

“In another study we did, we found they may help with appetite control — eating 100 calories worth of pulses at a meal will make you feel about one-third more full than 100 calories from another food,” he said.

De Souza said that losing weight is relatively easy — but keeping it off is much, much harder. 

“This is where eating more pulses in your daily diet can really help, we think,” he said.

There were some limitations to the study. Many of the trials were short-term and not of the highest quality. The authors also couldn’t tell what the long-term effects of eating legumes would be. 

Lauren Graf, a registered dietician with Montefiore Medical Centre in New York, said she wasn’t surprised by the findings and that there are multiple health benefits to eating legumes regularly.

“Beans are loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals that help protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease,” Graf, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health by e-mail.

The fibre in legumes helps lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood, Graf said.

For people who are not accustomed to eating beans, adding about a half cup per day is a good place to start, she said, adding that they can be used in place of other starches like potatoes or rice.

Graf also suggests adding cooked lentils to salads and to homemade veggie burgers, or incorporating them into soups and stews.

Maria Sharapova is the most noteworthy athlete to have failed a drug test for meldonium, but in the month since the tennis star revealed her use of a drug that she contends is for medical reasons a slew of other top athletes have been implicated.

They include fellow Russians Yuliya Efimova, a four-time breaststroke world champion, and Nikolai Kuksenkov, the country’s best male gymnast. In all, 140 athletes have tested positive for meldonium in the three months after it was banned on January 1, according to a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) spokesman.

But as the tally of failed tests increases, critics are raising questions about its performance enhancing benefits and how WADA could ban the drug with what they say is relatively little scientific evidence.

“There’s really no evidence that there’s any performance enhancement from meldonium. Zero,” said Don Catlin, a long-time anti-doping expert and the scientific director of the Banned Substances Control Group.

Those supporting meldonium’s ban point to its potential to enhance performance and measures of its use by athletes, both before and since the ban.

Those questions highlight a difficult position for WADA. With scant existing research, how does it know meldonium enhances performance? Does it need to ban a drug like meldonium before it understands its benefits and potential harms because it sees athletes using the drug? And if it’s not enhancing performance, why are a large number of seemingly healthy athletes taking a drug used to treat patients with heart problems?

Criteria for banning drugs

Meldonium’s journey to WADA’s prohibited substances list began in March 2014 when the US Anti-Doping Agency received a confidential tip that Eastern European athletes were using the drug to enhance performance.

By October of that year, meldonium — which also goes by the brand-name Mildronate — was on WADA’s monitoring list. In February 2015, scientists completed a study of global athlete usage of the drug.

In reviewing 8,320 urine samples, the study — which was funded by the Partnership for Clean Competition — found that 182 samples contained meldonium. At 2.2 per cent of the sample, it was more than double the rate for any other drug on the list. While stating that the findings of meldonium in samples was not limited to a particular sport, the paper notes use of the drug was found to a greater extent in strength sports (67 per cent) and endurance sports (25 per cent).

Results from the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, in June seemed to support concealed use of the drug. That research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed positive tests for meldonium in 66 of 762 urine samples but that only 23 athletes of the 662 athletes tested had declared their use of the drug.

Of the 662 doping-control forms the study reviewed, 525 declared the use of a medication or nutritional supplement. Use of meldonium was found in 15 of 21 sports, and the total count included 13 medallists.

While acknowledging evidence of meldonium’s performance enhancing effects is “limited”, the study concluded that since the drug was not being used primarily for therapeutic reasons it was “evidently being used with the intention to either improve recovery or enhance performance”.

To be considered for WADA’s prohibited list, a substance must meet two of three criteria: that it enhances or has the potential to enhance performance, that it presents an actual or potential health risk or that it violates the spirit of sport.

Once it was up for consideration, WADA’s expert group could consider public discussion on the drug, information from medical literature, monitoring, the availability of a test for the drug, among other factors.

In September, WADA decided to ban the drug and that went into effect on January 1. In its explanatory note, WADA wrote that it was banned because of evidence of use with the intention of enhancing performance.

Dr Andrew Pipe, medical and scientific adviser to Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, acknowledged there is little English-language literature available on meldonium, which was created in Latvia in the 1970s and is not approved for use in the United States and many other Western countries.

But Pipe defended its addition to the list, saying that while he was not speaking for WADA that the committee did follow WADA’s process. In a statement, a WADA spokesman similarly noted that the agency followed its process in banning meldonium.

“If you have a substance that has a purported mechanism that is capable of enhancing performance, you have evidence it is being used by large numbers of athletes and you have evidence that it is used by a large number of athletes concealed, then I think you come to the conclusion that this is a substance that should be placed on the prohibited list,” said Pipe, who was chair of the expert group at the time.

Little scientific evidence

Catlin and others question whether meldonium meets the basic criteria to be considered for the list. It’s not that it doesn’t enhance performance, Catlin said, it’s that there’s not research to show that.

“They have to try to show that it enhances performance, but by banning it they’ve already said it enhances performance and that will make people turn to it,” Catlin said.

“You can find that it has effects, but it’s difficult to link those to performance enhancement,” said Catlin. “I’ve tried and tried to figure out why so many athletes seem to be taking it.”

The drug, which is used to primarily to treat heart and cardiovascular diseases, works by shifting cells’ metabolism from fatty acids to carbohydrates for energy, a process that requires less oxygen.

A 2002 paper from researchers at Tbilisi State Medical University in Georgia found the drug has a positive effect on the physical working capacity of judokas, concluding it did not have side effects. Research presented in 2012 at the Baltic Sport Science Conference found much the same, noting it was not on the doping list.

For its part, Grindeks, the company that manufactures Mildronate, says it is not a performance-enhancing drug because it prevents the death of ischemic cells and does not increase performance of normal cells.

In guidance issued after the drug was banned, the Finnish Anti-Doping Agency noted there is “little scientific evidence of meldonium being able to enhance athletic performance”.

WADA does not have to prove a substance’s performance enhancing effects, and athletes are not able to challenge a drug’s inclusion on the prohibited list.

Catlin contends WADA incorrectly used evidence of use as a criterion. While few question whether use of the drug violates the spirit of sport, the broadest of the three criteria, some question how much it meets the first two.

“If you take those criteria seriously, then you would think that substances need to be innocent before proven guilty,” said Roger Pielke Jr., a University of Colorado professor whose book, The Edge: The War against Cheating and Corruption in the Cutthroat World of Elite Sports, is due out this year. “You can just say here’s a substance, athletes are taking it therefore we have suspicion that it has performance enhancing effects. Your anti-doping list would expand very rapidly if any substance that out there and you just add it to the list.

“If evidence is to matter, then the meldonium ban was put into place before that evidence became readily available,” he added.

Getting that evidence is part of the problem WADA faces. First, there is the cost. Conducting a study of the drug’s effect on elite athletes that would include a big enough group to draw conclusions can be expensive.

Then there are ethical considerations. At what doses could a study give a drug, even to consenting participants? Athletes often ascribe to the theory that if some is good, more is better and might be doubling, tripling or even quadrupling the dosage, said Victor Conte, founder of BALCO.

Athletes would need an exemption to compete with the drug or be held out of competition for the duration of the study.

All of that can make it hard for WADA to respond to evidence of misuse of a drug by athletes.

“[It’s] extremely difficult given that WADA is not only underfunded, but it has to deal with several substances, many of which have effects that WADA is unable to determine due to lack of research and literature,” said Dr Gregory Ioannidis, a sports lawyer and anti-doping expert in the United Kingdom.

While not impossible, conducting that research for each drug WADA considers banning presents a significant barrier. Without it, WADA faces the difficult position of banning a substance without knowing its effects.

“It does have the real potential to enhance performance,” said Dr Tom Bassindale, anti-doping scientist and forensic toxicologist at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. “It’s just there hasn’t been enough background research to prove that it does it yet.”

‘Rampant use’

So what can be concluded from the high number of athletes using meldonium?

Catlin found little reason behind Sharapova’s explanations, which included a magnesium deficiency and a family history of diabetes, and suggested there was little to infer from the number of failed tests other than that many athletes used meldonium.

But others accept the conclusion from some researchers and from WADA — that its use is at least with the intent to enhance performance.

“They must believe it does to all be on it,” said Bassindale. “It’s very hard to believe they all have angina or diabetes.”

For his part, Conte, who has worked to help anti-doping efforts after serving a prison sentence related to the BALCO case, said athletes’ use of meldonium is an endorsement of its performance enhancing effects.

“They know when it works. When you take drugs, you know when you’re stronger, faster, have more endurance,” he said.

“Of course it works. Now is there a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical trial with a sufficient total of subjects involved to be published in a credible scientific journal? No. But is there rampant use of it in Olympic sports? Yes.”

WASHINGTON — In an online world where viral trends can shift in an instant, the “exploding watermelon” video may have set a high-water mark.

The digital news site BuzzFeed on Friday showed just how quickly a mindless act can gain notoriety, using Facebook’s new live video service for an event in which its team placed elastic bands around the melon until it exploded.

The spectacle quickly gathered steam on social media, and at one point more than 800,000 people were viewing live, waiting for the watermelon to explode.

Moments later, the cached video had more than 4.4 million views and generated over 314,000 comments on Facebook.

“I want to stop watching so bad but I’m already committed,” one Facebook user wrote.

“When my husband comes home and asks me what I did today, I’m not certain he will understand how I couldn’t stop once I started,” another said.

The live event featured BuzzFeed’s Chelsea Marshall and James Harness in hazmat suits placing rubber bands one by one around the watermelon’s middle, counting out each time.

On Twitter, #watermelon become a top trend.

“More people are watching this than CNN right now,” one person tweeted.

BuzzFeed unabashedly promoted the event, tweeting: “The @BuzzFeedNews team is currently monitoring the imminent explosion of a watermelon. Stay tuned for the latest.”

The video showed a crowd around the watermelon cheering when the count passed 400 rubber bands.

“Can someone share this to my personal Facebook in case I die?” Harness said during the event.

With tension rising at BuzzFeed, the watermelon began spewing juice at 660 rubber bands until its top blew off at 690 to a round of cheers, followed by a partaking of the fruit inside.

But the buzz continued even after the live event.

“The year is 2030,” journalist Bobby Blanchard tweeted, “and my son asks ‘Daddy where were you when @BuzzFeed exploded a watermelon with rubber bands as 700,000 people watched on?’” 

Analysts, meanwhile, looked for lessons for struggling news media organisations.

“Livestreams are stories, just like any other content generated by a news organisation,” said Benjamin Mullin of the Poynter Institute in a blog post.

Mullin said it’s not clear if this feat can be duplicated, but that “newsroom managers might be wise to figure out how they can apply today’s lessons to their own coverage.”

WASHINGTON — Climate change can be expected to boost the number of annual premature US deaths from heatwaves in coming decades and to increase mental health problems from extreme weather like hurricanes and floods, a US study said on Monday. 

“I don’t know that we’ve seen something like this before, where we have a force that has such a multitude of effects,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told reporters at the White House about the study. “There’s not one single source that we can target with climate change, there are multiple paths that we have to address.”

Heatwaves were estimated to cause 670 to 1,300 US deaths annually in recent years. Premature US deaths from heatwaves can be expected to rise more than 27,000 per year by 2100, from a 1990 baseline, one scenario in the study said. The rise outpaced projected decreases in deaths from extreme cold.

Extreme heat can cause more forest fires and increase pollen counts and the resulting poor air quality threatens people with asthma and other lung conditions. The report said poor air quality will likely lead to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, hospital visits, and acute respiratory illness each year by 2030. 

Climate change also threatens mental health, the study found. Post traumatic stress disorder, depression and general anxiety can all result in places that suffer extreme weather linked to climate change, such as hurricanes and floods. More study needs to be done on assessing the risks to mental health, it said.

The peer-reviewed study by eight federal agencies can be found at: [health2016.globalchange.gov/] 

Cases of mosquito and tick-borne diseases can also be expected to increase, though the study, completed over three years, did not look at whether locally-transmitted Zika virus cases would be more likely to hit the United States. 

President Barack Obama’s administration has taken steps to cut carbon emissions by speeding a switch from coal and oil to cleaner energy sources. In February, the supreme court dealt a blow to the White House’s climate ambitions by putting a hold Obama’s plan to cut emissions from power plants. Administration officials say the plan is on safe legal footing. 

John Holdren, Obama’s senior science adviser, said steps the world agreed to in Paris last year to curb emissions through 2030 can help fight the risks to health. 

“We will need a big encore after 2030... in order to avoid the bulk of the worst impacts described in this report,” he said.